After wrapping up my first 28mm US Airborne troops, I set to work on some Germans. I ordered a bunch of Late War German infantry and command, plus an MG 42 team by Artizan Designs from Brigade Games and received them speedily. The detail in the figures really pops, and the personality and variety in the poses make them really engaging at this scale. I particularly like the stern officer in his greatcoat and the other figures screaming out orders and gesturing on the move. Painting WWII Germans for the first time at this scale, I really wanted to go for more detail than I do at 6mm or 15mm. Artizan Designs offers some great painting references on their website, including a general uniform guide and a lot of detail on German camoflage patterns. Using paints I had on hand plus a few more colors I picked up from Citadel’s paint line, I came up with a palette and painting scheme that produced some great results on my first go. The Artizan figures require little flash clean up before being glued to metal washers. The three man machine gun crew went on a 60mm plastic base I picked up from Proxie Models. Here’s the steps in detail for painting my German infantry.

Painting 28mm German Infantry

1. Clean flash from metal models with a sharp knife and glue to metal washer or plastic bases.
2. Apply filler putty to bases. When dry, scrape off excess with a sharp knife.
3. Basecoat models and bases with flat black spray primer.
4. Paint smocks and helmets with Tallarn Sand.
5. Paint pants, soft hats, officer greatcoat and gas mask containers with Skavenlight Dinge.
6. Paint camouflage on helmets and smocks with alternating Waaagh! Flesh and Dark Brown.
7. Paint faces and hands with Tallarn Flesh.
8. Paint packs with Baneblade Brown.
9. Paint boots and equipment straps Black.
10. Paint bases, gun stocks, water bottles and helmet straps with Dark Brown.
11. Apply Agrax Earthshade wash to uniforms, helmet netting, webbing and packs.
12. Mix 50/50 Baneblade Brown and Off White and lightly dry brush packs, webbing, socks and holsters.
13. Dry brush pants, soft hats and officer great coat with Light Grey.
14. Lightly dry brush bases and gun stocks with Baneblade Brown.
15. Paint metal gun and water bottle parts with black and finish with a light dry brush of Metallic Silver.
16. Dry brush gasmask containers with metallic Silver.
17. Paint eyes with small dots of Off White and Dark Brown. Clean up around eyes with Tallarn Flesh.
18. Mix 50/50 Tallarn Flesh and Off White and brush highlights on cheekbones, chins, forehead, nose and hands.
19. Cover bases in white glue and cover in 50/50 mix of fine light green and dark green grass flock.
20. Glue small pieces of clump foliage to base.
21. Spray coat completed models with matte finish.

  Helmets, smocks and pants base coated on the MG 42 team and infantry models

Infantry and officer uniforms base coated

Flesh base coats and helmet camouflage added to infantry and officer

Camouflage painted on helmets, and gun stocks and water bottles painted brown

Equipment detail being painted

Here’s a round up of my finished German infantry from Artizan Designs…

Now that I’ve got my core German and US forces completed, I’ll be looking to fill out forces on both sides with some additional support weapons and some more infantry from some other manufacturers. In no time at all, my 28mm force continues to grow.